Hey there. Pretty straightforward question here, but I now realize I’ve never actually known the answer - * how * exactly does travel work in college?
I’m guessing you probably can’t just pack up and leave on vacation for a month (although, I’ve also heard you don’t necessarily * need * to attend classes everyday either…). I know plenty of students have to wait until summertime to travel, but what about during the school year? Is the * only * option a study-abroad program?
I’m seriously considering going to community college next year for financial reasons. Considering the more “lax” environment, and the lack of available study-abroad programs (I’m almost sure the community college near me doesn’t have one), how does travel work for these kinds of students? Is it easier for community college students to take time off to travel in comparison to students going to private universities? I’d love to get more involved with traveling these next two years, and it would be very easy for me because I have a fairly international family. I have places I could stay in several different parts of the world.
Thanks!
Traveling during college is a bit difficult. Policies are going to vary from professor to professor and from class to class. I’ve had professors with strict attendance policies; if you miss class more than three times for ANY reason, you are automatically dropped from the class, and other similar policies. With exams and assignments to do, it’s rare that you’d have any kind of extended period where you wouldn’t need to be present. Throughout my college career so far, I don’t think I’ve gone longer than two weeks or so without having an exam. One obviously needs to be present for exams. Being at a community college won’t make any difference in those regards.
A lot of schools are expanding their online courses, and I do know of people that have been able to get the majority of their lower level courses completed almost entirely online. I have to question the effectiveness of such methods though. I’ve taken a couple of online courses, and I feel that I learned much less in them than I would have in person. However, online courses are sometimes an option. This would make traveling much easier.
Can you just pack up and leave on vacation for a month? Not really. College lectures are important. That’s where you are actually doing the learning. It would be exceedingly difficult to go on vacation for a month and actually manage to keep up with all of your coursework.
As a parent, my expectation for a child in college is that college is their priority, and their primary job is to invest their time and energy into their coursework and the other opportunities that are available at the school. Personally - I would not support a student that simply takes off in the middle of the year. More importantly, there is no way you can truly take advantage of the school if you are not there to experience it. Your ability to earn from your professors or classmates, build any type of mentoring relationship, participate in research or internships, contribute to any type of group project or effort, etc would be seriously compromised.
Same holds for study abroad (note the first word in the term is “study”). This can be a fabulous experience but is not intended to be simply “travel”.
If you want to travel before settling into college - and have the opportunity to do so - then go for it. College is an opportunity that shouldn’t be wasted - the time and money invested are too precious.
If you want to travel, then travel. If you want to go to school, then go to school. It’s going to be hard to do both the same semester. Even skipping class, you still have to be there from time to time. Maybe you could travel one semester, and go to school the next. Or maybe take distance learning courses, although sometimes those courses still require you to come to campus once or twice a semester. Or get your studies out of the way, get the degree, and take all the time you want to travel.
You’ll have a week off for spring break, about a month for winter break, and three months for summer break. Other than a couple of long weekends, you’ll be expected to be at school the rest of the time. Attendance counts.
And frankly, if you’re
perhaps extended travel shouldn’t be a priority for you right now, she asked gently?
I agree with what others have said.
If taking 3+ months off during summer, 2+ weeks over Christmas, and 1 week for spring break isn’t enough to satisfy your vacation needs, you might want to reconsider the reason you’re going to college in the first place. If travel is a top priority for you right now, then suspend your school efforts and go travel. You can always resume your studies at a later time, but do keep in mind that it may be more difficult the longer you wait.
The bottom line here is that a traditional 4-year college is meant to fully consume your life for the time you are attending. There aren’t really any provisions for students to take vacations during the school year.
Thanks for the answers guys. I may or may not look into online courses. I was just curious if attendance policies were a lot more lax at a community college as opposed to some big name private university. I would go to community college to save money, even though my family has enough to send me to a UC. I personally don’t feel very comfortable with the price tag, and I like the idea of getting your general education out of the way for very little money and putting that money towards other things (such as travel). It also lessens the pressure I would feel - I definitely have my own hesitations about college, so going into a ‘less committal’ environment would be something to consider.
You, um, actually have to GO TO CLASS in college. Otherwise you won’t pass, or at least won’t will grades you would hope to have. Unless you travel during breaks as described above, or take a semester or two off to travel (but this then, of course, delays your completion of college).
It’s not so much that every class will have mandatory attendance (in terms of docking your grade if you don’t show up), but that you should go to class so you can actually learn the material. And even when you’re not in class, you will have schoolwork and studying. You will have exams that might not give you enough time to travel for a month (I’ve had terms where I had a major test every week from the third week of school until finals week). Travelling doesn’t seem very fun if you have to spend a large portion of the time studying independently to keep up with your schoolwork, even if you don’t go to class. If you’re ambivalent about going to college, you will save a lot more money by just not going than going half-heartedly. I’d recommend you take some time off, and work or travel or do whatever you want to do. Then go to school when (and if) you decide that it’s really what you want to do.
I pretty much agree with what others have said. If you are going to travel, do it during winter break or summer break or heck even spring break. Otherwise take a gap year or semesters off. As a full time college student, it’s not like high school where you can just randomly take days off. If you miss class more than a day or two there is a high chance you will get behind, feel overwhelmed, and have lower grades than expected. Take it from someone who was sick for nearly three days straight, kept up with the work, and still felt befuzzled during midterms.
It’s not even always about the attendance policy as such. It’s simply that in some classes you cannot do well without being there. The lectures in some classes are almost pointless. One could get the exact same information from just doing the assigned reading. However, this is not the case in all classes. I’ve had plenty of classes where we’ve been tested over material that was not even in the reading. Students had to be present during the lectures to get all of it. If a student misses one lecture, and there are 2-3 questions on an exam that came directly from the lecture…then there’s a good chance the student will get them wrong. Multiply that by a bunch of missed lectures and you’ve got a low grade.
My husband attended community college in California, also a UC and later, grad school. One of the hardest classes he ever took was a community college biology class. Skipping class would have been disastrous. Don’t confuse community college with lax.
I read a Disney forum where a parent was furious that the college professor wouldn’t let her daughter take a week off during the semester to go on a family cruise. Her daughter was a good student, would certainly make up the work, what was the problem? Problem one - the mother!
The furious mother never heard of June July August?
I work at a college and each professor sets their attendance policy and most are pretty strict. THey can drop you from a class if you miss class on a regular basis. There is a lot of material you would miss taking even a week off of class and if you miss an exam the professor is under no obligation to allow you to make it up. If you are not ready to make a commitment to higher ed you should not go. You are paying money to be there, why would you not want to make the most of your money? There is plenty of time to travel during winter, spring and summer break. Classes are only 15 weeks long!